The First Year in the Life of a New Executive Director
Posted on September 14, 2017 by Adam Simon, John Hicks, Laura McCargar, Sharmila Rao Thakkar

Adam Simon is the founding Executive Director of the Aviv Foundation, an emerging family foundation dedicated to empowering disadvantaged children to break the cycle of poverty and to promoting deep engagement with Jewish learning, texts, values, and tradition, all within an open and inclusive framework. Aviv prioritizes an evidence-based investment strategy, and seeks to create relationships with organizations and partners based on trust, transparency, and impact.
Adam worked at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation from 2008 to 2016, most recently as Senior Director. He led efforts to help the Jewish community recruit, develop and retain exceptional professional and volunteer leaders by delivering best-in-class trainings, facilitating networking opportunities and coaching organizations to invest in their most valuable asset—their people.
With a professional background in both the for-profit and for-impact sectors, Adam has built grassroots service initiatives based on Jewish values, served as the Director of Hillel at Northwestern University, and managed warehouse operations at a company involving hundreds of team members and hundreds of thousands of industrial supplies.
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